I am the Director of Legislative Affairs of the Geoduck Student Union, and the GSU Representative to the Board of Trustees, my name is Juniper Campbell, and below is a report on what’s up with the work I have been doing with the legislature.
After years of being out of the loop, the GSU has finally gotten back into the Washington Student Association. This organization represents undergraduate and graduate students from across Washington in the legislature at the state level, with 13 colleges officially participating amounting in total to over 150,000 students.
The legislative process occurs around the Winter season of every year, in between these years student gov “Legislative Liaisons” or “Directors of Legislative Affairs” spend time engaging with their student bodies to create a legislative agenda that represents students interests, once established the different reps create a unified agenda during general assemblies the WSA holds. When the session hits, the representatives get together in Olympia to directly lobby at the Capitol for both the unified agenda and each of their institutions’ individual agendas. This is an incredible opportunity for students to engage directly with the legislative process and potentially get bills passed that support student needs.
This legislative session, which started January 8th, I have been lobbying on behalf of the Evergreen Student Body at the Capitol. You may have seen the posters around for two very important bills on the WSA agenda, or the posters for Evergreens Lobby Day being held Feb 12th. The lobby day event is a great opportunity for students at large to get educated about the legislative process by directly advocating for bills. Due to the nature of GSU getting back on its feet, we were unable this year to organize ahead for getting together an Evergreen specific policy agenda, or organize ahead for the lobby day. The main bills that made up the WSA’s agenda this year are:
SB5999
Expanding eligibility for full Washington College Grant financial aid
SB5904
Expanding Years recipients get the Washington College Grant
SB5895
Establishing a collective bargaining framework for operational student workers
SB5961
Rent Stabilization
SB6038
Expansion of Childcare Access
SB6053
Auto Enrolling Eligible Snap Recipients in The Washington College Grant
HB1889
Allowing undocumented workers to get certain professional certifications and licenses. (Only requiring providing an ITIN instead of an SSN)
HB2112
Opioid overdose prevention education and resource expansion
HB2114
Rent Stabilization (House companion bill to SB5961)
HB2214
Auto Enrolling Eligible Snap Recipients in The Washington College Grant (house companion bill to SB6053)
HB2242
Further protections for SA Survivors and holding assaulters accountable
(HB = House of Representatives Bill. SB = Senate Bill)
I want to seriously thank every single student who helped support these bills by following the links on the posters showing your direct support either when you saw them in the halls or when I was running around the greenery asking y’all, or when I asked y’all to spam legislators in an attempt to save SB5895, even just reading the posters and talking about it. Unfortunately, some of the most important bills have now died. This includes SB5999, SB5895, and HB2242. A good chunk of the reason why is because this year’s session is a supplementary session, where the budget is tight, the other aspects have to do with opposing interests, miscommunication among legislators, and the personal mistakes of us at the WSA.
However we still have next year, and a whole new fiscal cycle, giving us a better chance. To clarify the WSA’s top priority is still SB5999, expansion of financial aid. I also wanted to clarify, especially for those who helped me in supporting SB5895 that despite the rhetoric used, student workers absolutely have the right to unionize. This would just give a framework for the bargaining unit, without which the option is to encourage the school to “voluntarily recognize” the bargaining unit, something which has not been done in the Washington State for any organizing student workers, and is generally regarded as much more difficult. The session is not over however, and it is possible for any “dead” bills to get resurrected, but this is very very unlikely.
I will continue to work hard until the end of the session on all those bills including the ones that are currently dead, this work I cannot do entirely alone and will need the support from all of you who are willing, to look around for any new postings on the billboards or on the GSU’s social media page. Generally what will be requested is for people to comment on bills that they support, or if you are interested in being more involved, to give testimonies during the public hearings for any of those bills above that are still alive. Warning to those who want to give testimonies: Any testimony you give will be recorded and will be public record for anyone to find or use.
I want to apologize for not communicating more about all the work that has been going on on behalf of all of yall in this role. There will be more communications in the future, and it is highly recommended that people show up to the GSU meetings, where we give public reports on the work we have been doing. If I am able to continue working in this position into next school year I will make sure to inform and involve the study body in the creation of an Evergreen policy agenda and an Evergreen Lobby Day where many more students can participate. Thank you all again, and if you have any questions for me as regards what’s going on with the legislature, or how you can help please contact me!
Email: ionacritiques@gmail.com
